Posts Tagged ‘swimming’

This Week’s Happenings 4/29-5/6

Sunday, May 6th, 2012

I didn’t do a This Week’s Happenings last week because our week was filled mainly with Mikayla’s birthday activities which I posted about here and here.  This week has proven to be very busy with out of country visitors and birthday party preparations.  We also spent a lot of time playing with birthday gifts she had already received.

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She got into the stamp pad without us looking!  See that big thing of stickers there…it is already halfway gone!

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Playing her version of Candy Land – the gingerbread men characters visit the different "candy stores" and eat all the candy!

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This was a craft sent from her aunts and uncles and cousins.  She has named it Aunt Christa and plays with it like it is a doll.

On Monday evening two people from Switzerland arrived to visit Cabrini for a couple of days.  We hosted them, along with several other staff members for dinner on Monday night and breakfast on Tuesday morning.  For dinner we had lasagna, spaghetti, salad, homemade bread and a Snickerdoodle cake for dessert.  After spending the majority of the day prepping for dinner I was exhausted after our guests left.  Then we got up the next day and made a fabulous breakfast of fresh squeezed OJ, eggs, bacon (both grilled and fried), fried potatoes and more fresh bread!  It was delicious but we were so full we couldn’t find it in ourselves to eat much for lunch or dinner!  The best part about our guests (at least for Mikayla the best part) was that the girl’s name was Michaela!  She thought it was really silly to say her name for someone else!

We have converted Joe to being a Settlers of Catan player, so we had a fun evening of Settlers after Mikayla went to bed on Friday.  I won of course, which made the evening even more enjoyable!

We have officially entered "winter" here, but it didn’t feel much like it!  It warmed back up again this week after a quick cold spell last week so we spent some time in Mikayla’s swimming pool playing.  We played with both princess dolls and her tea set.  And she spent a lot of time riding her rocking horse swing, despite the heat.  She also spent some time playing in the mango tree with her Super Mikayla cape (thanks Cat, Dave and Molly) trying to save Flounder who was supposedly at the top of the tree!  Her imagination never ceases to amaze me.

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Where is Flounder, Super Mikayla?

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Tea party in the swimming pool…doesn’t get much better than this!

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At night when it cools off some Mikayla enjoys sitting and staring at stuff on her rocking horse swing.  I think it is really precious.

On Saturday we had Mikayla’s Mickey themed birthday party, more on that later.

But most exciting news of the week is that we bought plane tickets to head back to the US for a visit from August 19-September 24.  Plans while we are there are still up in the air and Ben will be working for most of that, but we were excited to get the tickets out of the way!   We will keep you posted of details as the time gets closer (and we have them of course)!

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This Week’s Happenings 12/12-12-18

Sunday, December 18th, 2011

Ben had a three day meeting in town this week.  We were sad for him to leave since I was gone so much last week.  But then on his first night he called and said he ended up with a suite and that we should find a ride into town to come stay with him (our car is in the shop).  So on Thursday we got up early and hitched a ride with one of the Cabrini vehicles heading that way to enjoy some time with Ben (although he was in meetings for most of the time).  We got to enjoy some AC, excellent Internet and some rain!  I am starting to get spoiled with all the getaways!

Speaking of getaways, we finalized our holiday plans this week.  We will spend some time in Kruger (one of the largest game reserves) and Nelspruit – both in South Africa.  We will also be spending some time with the sisters.  We will surely miss our families and friends a lot this week, but are hoping to have some decent Internet so we can make some video calls.  We will keep you posted on that.  When we get back we will pick up the twins we kept earlier in the year.  They will have a months stay at the Kickert’s abode during the "summer" break!

We have been thinking for awhile that we wanted to get Mikayla a pool to play it.  It is just so hot!  Well, we finally purchased one this week and I think she is in love.  Originally we planned on getting one of those wide shallow pools, but I think this is going to be even better because she can submerge herself and we can use it as big bath tub if we need to.  It will actually come in really handy when we are keeping the twins.  We have also been having some problems with our shower so it will be nice to bathe ourselves as well.  It is amazing how small things can make such a big difference here.

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Just hanging out in her new pool/tub!

On Saturday I did some baking for the sisters.  They wanted to give some homemade goodies to the priests and sister here.  They had given me a couple of box mixes they picked up in SA last week, but I had some butternut squash that needed to be used.  So I decided to throw some "pumpkin" (aka butternut squash) muffins into the mix.  When I had some leftover puree I decided it was a great chance to try out some Pumpkin Monkey Bread I have had on my radar for a bit.  I am so glad I did because it was delicious.  Maybe even better than traditional monkey bread.  I found the recipe here.  I didn’t take any pictures because our pan was actually too small and it fell out as it rose so high during the baking process, but trust me it was amazing!  Try it, definitely worth the wait time.  If you do try, be sure to read the recipe all the way through before starting because it requires two rise times. 

For all you Clark folks – we will be thinking of you this week as we make the annual cinnamon rolls!  It’s just too bad we will have to eat them all ourselves!

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Posted in Life |

Girls Only Trip

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

I am making several posts tonight for several reasons.

1. I have some spare time and Ben is out of town.

2. I haven’t had much to say until recently.

3. I have been super busy trying to get in last minute visits with friends and family, see places I want to see before the big move, and prepping for the big move. We leave in about a month, July 19 to be exact. I haven’t posted much about it because I have been busy trying to prep our house and lives so that we are prepared for it. That seemed more important than blogging about all the details we were dealing with! Once the move is complete I hope to post more about the process and all the fun stuff.

With that being said, last week Mikayla and I took a girls only trip with our dear friends Lara and Lylah.  For Mikayla’s birthday they gave her a trip to the zoo.  So, we packed up our bags and headed to Lara’s parent’s house in Indiana, just outside of Evansville.  We spent Wednesday afternoon and evening swimming in their fantastic pool, eating a delicious grilled steak and salmon meal prepared by her dad and vegging on the couch catching up.  On Thursday we braved the heat and headed to the Evansville Zoo.  The girls had a blast and actually outlasted their mothers.  The heat got to us before they were tired of seeing the animals and playing.  It was a great trip!  Thanks Lylah and Lara for the awesome birthday gift!

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My little water bug!  She was pushing me away so she could swim "on her own".

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Two little cuties!

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Ms. Sassy Pants herself.

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Grilling time.

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Checking out the animals.

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Lylah was a champ when it came to feeding the giraffes…

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Mikayla on the other hand was a bit timid.  I am blaming it on the duck incident from the week before!

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Posted in Life, Parenting |

Pool and Wagon Fun

Monday, May 31st, 2010

For Mikayla’s birthday she received a pool from her grandparents and a wagon from her aunts, uncles and cousins. 

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In the last few weeks we have began using both.  Mikayla loves to play in the wagon while we are in the garden working.  She climbs in and out, in and out, in and out.  She is even so polite as to shut the door.  Check her out in all her cuteness and please note her “concentration face” she gets from her daddy!  (For some reason this video won’t upload, I will try again later!)

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The pool is a different story.  She LOVES playing in the water, but is not a fan of sitting in the pool.  The following pictures and video will show that she enjoys playing in it, but only by poolside.  Still cute in her fun bathing suit.  I also recently made her a water table, but I will post more on that later.

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Doesn’t she make a cute summer baby?

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